White Cat by Holly Black

White Cat

****

Not all addictions are bad in my opinion.  If it weren’t for my love of Cassandra Clare, I would not have known to read White Cat, written by Ms. Clare’s author BFF, Holly Black.

It unfortunately took me a while to get to this one.  I know, I know.  But there are so many books and so little time.  What is a 30 going on 13 year old supposed to do?  Well, I finally remedied this problem and picked up White Cat at the local library.   And boy do I wish I had read it sooner.  What a fun ride!

Cassel Sharpe is the youngest in a family of Curse Workers.  Unfortunately for Cassel (or fortunately depending on who you may be talking to in this fabulous alternate world that Holly Black has created), he did not inherit any curse worker abilities.  What he has learned from his family is to be an excellent grifter.   And thank goodness too.  If it wasn’t for his side-business of swindling the rich kids at his boarding school, he probably couldn’t afford to stay there.  But his student status is in jeopardy when he finds himself inexplicably sleepwalking on the roof of his dorm.  From that point, Cassel quickly begins unraveling a plot that has been in the works for years and begins to realize that he just might be the one being conned.

There was one thing I did not like about this book.  As the reader, you figure out what is going on long before Cassel does.  Now don’t let this dissuade you from reading the book.  There is a good reason as to why Cassel doesn’t figure it out.  But it would have been nice to have been in suspense a bit longer.

What did I like?  Oh gee, let me see.  One, this is the first YA novel I have read that is written in the first person and from a male perspective.  It was fun getting know a male character this way.  Two, Cassel is darn loveable!  Three, I love the whole family of cons storyline.  In a lot of ways Cassel reminds me of a young Neal Caffrey.  And what girl doesn’t love a little Neal?  And four, Holly Black’s alternate reality took urban fantasy to a whole new level for me. 

If you haven’t done so yet, please read this book.  It is original and lots of fun.  You won’t be disappointed.

Nat

Firelight by Sophie Jordan

Firelight by Sophie Jordan

****

Firelight was a delightful discovery I made while I was at the library browsing the YA section.  The cover caught my attention and I thought I’d give it a go.

Instead of angels or shadowhunters, I ventured into a world of dragons and their descendants known as Draki.  Dragons had long ago evolved into human form in order to survive as a species.  The Draki still have the ability to take on dragon form especially in “fright or flight” moments.  Any strong emotion can trigger it - provocation, stress, fear and in our heroine’s situation love.

Jacinda is a Draki.  She loves her world and embraces her dragon-self but not so much the stifling restrictions of the “pride” she lives with.  There’s a fantastic showdown between the Draki and the dragon hunters featuring a cave scene with a very tender, life-changing moment.  There’s talk of having her mate with Cassian, the alpha Draki of her tribe.  In a desperate effort to escape the controlling hand of the pride, her mom packs up the family, including Jacinda’s twin sister, Tamra.  They move to a nice quite town hoping to start a new life.  Blending in is a whole lot easier for Tamra than it is for Jacinda for a number of reasons.

Jacinda struggles throughout the book.  Torn between familial duty to her mom and sister, especially now that Tamra is so happy and her own desperation to stay true to that other part of herself, endeared Jacinda to me.

And then of course there’s Will, the hot guy at school (because is there any other kind in YA books?).  They have an instant connection that feeds both their needs (and it’s not dirty so get your mind out of the gutter.)

I was completely enamored with Jacinda.  I found her confusion and struggles so typical of many teenagers.  But where Jacinda is honest with herself, Will practically runs for the hills from his own demons and ssshhhhh….secrets!  I thought the author did a fine job of addressing their emotional turmoil.  I also enjoyed that in this scenario, the female is the stronger, more decisive character who is working on herself and in the process helping the guy find his own voice.

I will say that after finishing the book I wish I could’ve seen things from Tamra’s perspective.  It would’ve been fascinating to see how where the one sister who used to struggle, is now thriving and fitting in while the other sister feels incomplete.  Obviously, that’s completely at the writer’s discretion but if she ever writes it from Tamra’s point of view, I’d love to check it out.

I definitely didn’t like the typical entitled, high-maintenance beeotch in the book but I suppose that’s inevitable in any high school.  Thankfully, Jacinda and Will more than made up for that unpleasant prat.

I highly recommend reading this book, particularly impressionable teenage girls.  I think that under the surface, is a beautiful message, much like Jacinda herself.  She's a quiet, self-assured heroine and I’m anxiously awaiting the next book in the series, Vanish.

Bel

Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick

Let me start off by saying that I too was a bit apprehensive about delving into the world of angels, devils and creatures in between.  Cassandra Clare, author of The Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices series, has set a pretty high bar for me by establishing well-written characters and story lines balanced with equal amounts of seriousness, drama, suspense, fantasy, teenage romance, action and humor.  So obviously in my eyes, Becca Fitzpatrick had her work cut out for her. I instantly fell for Hush, Hush within the first 5 pages and I was won over.  The main thing that stood out was the increasing sexual tension between the two main characters.  I tried starting another book in a different series after I was done but my mind kept wandering back to Patch and Nora.  So here I am with my take on their continuing saga ...

Crescendo

By Becca Fitzpatrick

***1/2




We start off with Nora and Patch seemingly happy with their dating status.  But like all YA novels, one of them has to have a deep dark secret and must mysteriously change moods so the other one constantly questions, “Is it me?  Should I do something differently?  Why won’t he talk to me?”  Their relationship is in jeopardy.  And it looks like Patch may be making a play for Nora’s archenemy, Marcie – horror! 

Nora, heartbroken, proceeds to distance herself from Patch, even though he keeps showing up every time she tries to prove her independence from him.  And rightly so.  Nora keeps making the most stupid decisions ever!  I just want to shake her.  And while she’s busy making stupid decisions, the questions surrounding her father’s death becomes her side project when not secretly pining for Patch. 

Then there’s the new guy who shows up, Nora’s former childhood friend, Scott, another guy with a dark past.  Once again the author does a good job of keeping us guessing about which way he could go.  He’s gruff, abrasive and scum-like.  Vee continues to mark her presence as Nora’s BFF.  While she’s a tad bit obnoxious, I think we’d all like a friend like her to have our back no matter what.  Rixon, Patch’s closest friend, has more exposure in this book and brings some insight into the past. 

But the best thing about Crescendo continues to be Patch, Patch, Patch!  Our awesomely hot bad boy shows his complexities and fragileness and I can’t help falling for him even more.  He still has his stalker-like moments but surprisingly the scenes that had the most impact on me were the quiet ones when he just looks at Nora.  His mannerisms and body language had me swooning.  I wanted to push Nora aside and grab him myself.

Crescendo also introduces a few new players in the many mysteries surrounding Nora, including her father’s death, Patch and her genealogy.  And it all climaxes into one of the best endings I’ve read in a long time, which has left me breathlessly waiting for Silence...


Bel

Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

All silliness aside, we really are here to provide you with reviews of our old, current and new favorite books and the occasional movie.  Young Adult is a big favorite here but don’t be surprised to see the occasional review for a children’s book, classic, or…*gasp*…a novel written for adults.  Like we said, we’re 16 year olds with a mortgage payment.

Although not new to many, we just recently discovered Becca Fitzpatrick’s Hush, Hush series.  Below is my review of Hush, Hush.  Stay tuned for Bel’s review of the sequel, Crescendo.  And dare we hope that maybe you will stick around long enough to see our review of Silence when it is released in October?  Not only dare we hope, we expect to still see you lurking around!

Hush, Hush

By Becca Fitzpatrick

***

I have found that I am just not a big fan of the fallen angel stories.  Give me vampires, werewolves, or Shadowhunters any day.  But fallen angels?  Meh.  Compared to the other two fallen angel stories I have read I would put this one in the middle.  And the only two reasons it didn’t make it to the bottom of the list is awesome bad boy, Patch, and the ending.  I can’t tell you about the ending but I can tell you about Patch.  Patch (we will just ignore the ridiculousness of his name) is the true bad boy all of us girls fantasize about.  He isn’t a good guy by any stretch of the imagination.  He is bad, bad, bad but with just a touch of naughty that makes him so hot he is smokin’.   And let’s face it.  Any hero that lifts his heroine by the waist so she can wrap her legs around him while he kisses her senseless is a hero for me.  The only thing missing was a brick wall.

As for the bad…Our heroine, Nora, is an idiot.  She is like the girl in a horror movie who keeps making bad decisions.  You keep wanting to scream at her “Why are you doing THAT!?!”  It’s not that she is unlikeable.  Actually, because she IS likeable, her decisions are even more frustrating.  Sure, a lot of heroines do stupid things.  Authors would have little action in their stories if it didn’t happen sometimes.   But Becca Fitzpatrick takes it to a whole new level with Nora.  And then there is her BFF, Vee.  At first you think Vee is super awesome.  Their relationship is hilarious and is quite reminiscent of the relationship I have with some of my friends.  But then Vee makes some decisions that SHOULD be a friendship breaker, in my opinion.  But apparently Nora gets over things more easily than me.  I don’t always mind a weak heroine (I am probably one of the few people who doesn’t hate Bella Swan) but Nora’s weakness travels into the ridiculous.

In the end, if you are looking for a strong heroine, don’t read this book.  If you are looking for a sexy hero, definitely read this book.  I admit that I will be reading Crescendo to get a little more Patch action.

When it comes to the very few fallen angel stories I have read....I would recommend Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton over Hush, Hush.  But I would recommend Hush, Hush over Fallen by Lauren Kate.

Nat

Meet The Bloggers

Hi.  Is this thing on?  Hellllooooooooooo?  

We’re Shel, Bel & Nel.  Funny but no.  We're Shel, Bel & Nat.

We come together because of our love for the ridiculous written word.  Bonding over our love for books, boys and pie, we came up with this idea to spread our special brand of silliness with the entire world. 

About us:

We love books.

We love boys.

We love pie.

We love boys with pie and breakfast chocolate.  Bel & Nat say boy optional; Shel says boy required.  You draw your own conclusions.

We love movies.

We love movies with hot boys.

We love movies based on books with hot boys.

We behave like ordinary 16 year-old girls …with mortgage payments.

We’re here to dish about books, boys and pop culture – whatever ramblings we have in our minds but mostly books … and boys.

We hope we entertain you as much as we entertain ourselves.  Sit back, relax and enjoy the show!